I’ve told you that Julie Wakeman-Linn is a bundle of energy: writer, teacher, editor, and conference organizer. (I'm guessing she also has a personal life!) You saw one side of the picture in her previous post–about putting together a do-it-yourself writer’s retreat—and here she explores another facet of her busy life: editing the Potomac Review.
This piece is adapted from a post on the Potomac Review blog, which you should check out. And after reading Julie’s piece, I’m sure you’ll be fired up to learn more about the Potomac Review:
--to read work published in the journal, go here
--to subscribe (only $20), go here
--to submit your work (electronic submissions accepted), go here
--main site: http://www.montgomerycollege.edu/potomacreview/
Advice on submitting to the Potomac Review—
Open season on Editors; Open letter to contributors.
Fall is my favorite season, beautiful trees and lovely long walks; the academic year is beginning with all its possibilities. For the past four years, fall has also become the opening of the submission period or reading period for The Potomac Review.
Next Tuesday, I throw the switch and the online submission manager comes alive again. I both shudder and thrill at the thought of it. Why—a couple of clicks from all those eager writers and poets and my editors and I could be inundated. So here is my request and my advice – think about The Potomac Review before you click. Take a look at our website, lay your hands on a recent copy. Believe me –it has changed from 2005. We are no longer only regional but rather international in scope.
The next step if you want your work to rise out of the ranks of the electronic or paper slush is to craft your opening paragraph very very carefully. Give us a problem happening to a lifelike character right away. Hint at setting –no paragraphs of exposition or description. Ideally, your opening paragraph will be rewritten after the story’s ending is solid; think of it this way – does the opening take on new meaning, more layers when the story is finished? Does the ending “shed light all the way back to the beginning of the story?” (Thank you to my writing professors for that gem).
Think about the length of the story also. Long stories are harder to write and harder to publish. I find that most stories over 5000 words lose energy and focus, so trim, trim, trim. Watch out for strings of adjectives and preposition phrases gone rogue.
Cover letters are often the subject of much laughter in the offices of the Potomac Review and I’m afraid we laugh at them and not with them. Don’t address your letter to the previous editors—Eli and Christa are great people but they aren’t the ones reading your work. Do mention if you have read a story in the Potomac Review that you liked. We love it when you read us and of course, subscribe. If we have met you at one of our two terrific conferences, mention that.
Finally expect that the whole process takes time. Here’s an approximate timeline-- Your story arrives, in a week or two, it gets handed over to an associate editor who is also teaching and writing. The first read usually takes a month to go out and come back to me. If the associate editor likes the story, it makes its way to the ‘maybe’ editor who screens for me. She is very good and very quick. Then if she likes it, I take it over. I read it, mull it over, think about it, hand it around the office and read it again. Then even if I love it, I’m still thinking about the composition of the entire issue. This series of steps usually takes 4-5 months to give fair reading by multiple people. I may be crazy but I look at every story that comes in, even if it is just a glance.
If my editors and I are hooked by the first line, first paragraph, first page, we will keep reading, so work on those elements. I’m waiting for stories to thrill, challenge, or amuse me. Send them along. I love fall. ~~Julie Wakeman-Linn
About: Julie Wakeman-Linn, Editor in Chief of the Potomac Review, teaches at Montgomery College and writes in the moments around the grading and the editing. Her novel, Chasing the Leopard, was a finalist for the 2008 Bellwether Prize, and her short fiction has appeared in online and print journals including The Chimaera (http://www.the-chimaera.com/ ) and Enhanced Gravity (www.http://www.gargoylemagazine.com/books/paycock/paycock.htm)
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Charles Baxter Asks 5 Questions
Charles Baxter is a wonderful writer and a legendary teacher of writing. I saw him speak as part of an AWP panel and my writing was transformed. Here’s a short piece from Glimmer Train that will show you what I mean:
"There are about five questions you can ask yourself about stories, and they're not foolproof, but they're useful. One is, what do these characters want? Second is, what are they afraid of? Third is, what's at stake in this story? Fourth is, what are the consequences of these scenes or these actions? And the last one is, how does the language of this story reflect the world of the story itself?"
Read the rest here.
"There are about five questions you can ask yourself about stories, and they're not foolproof, but they're useful. One is, what do these characters want? Second is, what are they afraid of? Third is, what's at stake in this story? Fourth is, what are the consequences of these scenes or these actions? And the last one is, how does the language of this story reflect the world of the story itself?"
Read the rest here.
Patience Is Not a Virtue
A journal that shall remain unnamed thoughtfully sent me a form rejection email of a piece I had submitted on September 5, 2008. Honestly…at this point, did they think I was holding my breath waiting to hear?
I say, six months is more than ample time. Yes, I KNOW these journals have mountains of submissions, and I KNOW they “read every one carefully.” But no one over here is getting any younger, so in general, if I haven’t heard in six months, I move on. I don’t even bother asking if they still have my ms. because most times I don’t even get a response to that inquiry.
The process is enough to make you crazy, and here’s a good place to blow off some steam: Literary Rejections on Display. Names are named....
I say, six months is more than ample time. Yes, I KNOW these journals have mountains of submissions, and I KNOW they “read every one carefully.” But no one over here is getting any younger, so in general, if I haven’t heard in six months, I move on. I don’t even bother asking if they still have my ms. because most times I don’t even get a response to that inquiry.
The process is enough to make you crazy, and here’s a good place to blow off some steam: Literary Rejections on Display. Names are named....
Fellowship for Emerging Women Writers
The Vermont Studio Center is pleased to announce the continuation of The Rona Jaffe Foundation/Vermont Studio Center Fellowship. Now in its second year, this fellowship is intended to support the month-long residency of an emergent woman writer who will be a first-time resident at VSC. The fellowship covers full VSC residency fee and offers an additional stipend of $1,250 to help cover expenses associated with taking the residency, including but not limited to travel, rent, childcare or to replace lost income.
For the purposes of this Fellowship, emergent writers are defined as those who are as yet unpublished, or have begun publishing in literary journals, or who are just completing their first book. (Women writers who have published a standard trade edition of their work do not qualify for this fellowship.) All eligible writers of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction who are citizens or permanent residents of the U.S. will be considered for this Fellowship, which pays tribute to the memory of celebrated author Rona Jaffe (www.ronajaffefoundation.org)
The application deadline for The Rona Jaffe Foundation/Vermont Studio Center Fellowship is 10/1/09. To apply, download and fill out the Vermont Studio Center’s regular application form, check the “I am applying for a Special Fellowship Award” box on the first page, and write Rona Jaffe Fellowship on the “Award Name” line. Follow the application instructions and be sure all materials are RECEIVED at VSC by October1, 2009. Details are here: http://www.vermontstudiocenter.org/the-rona-jaffe-foundation-fellowship/
The winner of the first Rona Jaffe Foundation/Vermont Studio Center Fellowship was Rose Nash, of Wolcott, Vermont, who spent the month of June 2009 at the Studio Center. Rose received her B.A. and M.A. from Middlebury College. After graduating, she taught on a kibbutz in Israel for two years and then took a position teaching middle and high school English in Vermont. She is currently a writing specialist in the Learning Resource Center at Johnson State College. She is working on her first novel.
For the purposes of this Fellowship, emergent writers are defined as those who are as yet unpublished, or have begun publishing in literary journals, or who are just completing their first book. (Women writers who have published a standard trade edition of their work do not qualify for this fellowship.) All eligible writers of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction who are citizens or permanent residents of the U.S. will be considered for this Fellowship, which pays tribute to the memory of celebrated author Rona Jaffe (www.ronajaffefoundation.org)
The application deadline for The Rona Jaffe Foundation/Vermont Studio Center Fellowship is 10/1/09. To apply, download and fill out the Vermont Studio Center’s regular application form, check the “I am applying for a Special Fellowship Award” box on the first page, and write Rona Jaffe Fellowship on the “Award Name” line. Follow the application instructions and be sure all materials are RECEIVED at VSC by October1, 2009. Details are here: http://www.vermontstudiocenter.org/the-rona-jaffe-foundation-fellowship/
The winner of the first Rona Jaffe Foundation/Vermont Studio Center Fellowship was Rose Nash, of Wolcott, Vermont, who spent the month of June 2009 at the Studio Center. Rose received her B.A. and M.A. from Middlebury College. After graduating, she taught on a kibbutz in Israel for two years and then took a position teaching middle and high school English in Vermont. She is currently a writing specialist in the Learning Resource Center at Johnson State College. She is working on her first novel.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Beware of Cicadas
The latest issue of Poets & Writers had a short piece about how to submit work to Tin House, which is one of my favorite journals. There was the usual editorial information, and then this:
"What do you not want in a submission?
This is not particular to our submitters, but here’s the thing: For such a small insect, cicadas sure show up a lot in poetry and fiction. It sounds silly to take issue with it, but the point is that it smacks of device, which in turn interrupts the dream. Watch out for stuff like that."
I’m guilty, having included cicadas in more than one story (but I’m sure those aren't the cicadas they're talking about because I'm sure my cicadas work, haha)—but the larger point is useful: always to work hard to come up with the new, the fresh, the words unspoken.
You can’t always know these things, of course, but one helpful thing is to take any opportunity you can to read manuscript submissions for a journal or a contest. There you’ll see for yourself the swarms of cicadas or stories that start with the alarm clock ringing or how often female characters drink tea from mugs in the morning.
Speaking of Tin House, the journal is currently reading for an upcoming theme issue that sounds great: “Games People Play.”
From the website:
"We’re looking for fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and interviews revolving around the idea of play and sport. From poker to mind games to soccer, we want unique voices and ideas about games, play, and sport, from the personal to the cultural, from the inside and the outside, positive and negative, from within big-business sports to profiles of privately obsessive participants in willfully obscure games. At this stage (of the game, race, rally, inning, hand, match, set, clash, etc.) we are open to suggestions. The deadline for unsolicited submissions to this theme issue will be November 1."
Details are here.
"What do you not want in a submission?
This is not particular to our submitters, but here’s the thing: For such a small insect, cicadas sure show up a lot in poetry and fiction. It sounds silly to take issue with it, but the point is that it smacks of device, which in turn interrupts the dream. Watch out for stuff like that."
I’m guilty, having included cicadas in more than one story (but I’m sure those aren't the cicadas they're talking about because I'm sure my cicadas work, haha)—but the larger point is useful: always to work hard to come up with the new, the fresh, the words unspoken.
You can’t always know these things, of course, but one helpful thing is to take any opportunity you can to read manuscript submissions for a journal or a contest. There you’ll see for yourself the swarms of cicadas or stories that start with the alarm clock ringing or how often female characters drink tea from mugs in the morning.
Speaking of Tin House, the journal is currently reading for an upcoming theme issue that sounds great: “Games People Play.”
From the website:
"We’re looking for fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and interviews revolving around the idea of play and sport. From poker to mind games to soccer, we want unique voices and ideas about games, play, and sport, from the personal to the cultural, from the inside and the outside, positive and negative, from within big-business sports to profiles of privately obsessive participants in willfully obscure games. At this stage (of the game, race, rally, inning, hand, match, set, clash, etc.) we are open to suggestions. The deadline for unsolicited submissions to this theme issue will be November 1."
Details are here.
Sending a Snowflake through a Pine Board
The Anthologist, by one of my faves, Nicholson Baker, sounds interesting (and perhaps familiar): about a modern-day poet who's having problems writing. And I thought this Washington Post review by David Kirby contained a number of excellent writing tips within it:
With the concentration of a mohel, [protagonist] Chowder focuses on the mechanics of poetry and neglects what Emerson called "lustres," sparky images and aphorisms that pierce the seal set on the human spirit by time and care. "A snowflake will go through a pine board, if projected with force enough," Emerson wrote, and while meter may account for the force in much poetry, the snowflake is just as necessary.
With the concentration of a mohel, [protagonist] Chowder focuses on the mechanics of poetry and neglects what Emerson called "lustres," sparky images and aphorisms that pierce the seal set on the human spirit by time and care. "A snowflake will go through a pine board, if projected with force enough," Emerson wrote, and while meter may account for the force in much poetry, the snowflake is just as necessary.
Write a Mouthful
Mmmm…my favorite topic:
Alimentum publishes fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry all around the subject of food. Alimentum is the only literary journal all about food. Submissions open September 1, 2009 and closes December 1, 2009.
http://www.alimentumjournal.com/submissions.html
Additionally, the journal has a poetry contest:
Submit up to 3 unpublished poems related to the subject of food or drink. Five-poem limit on poetry submissions. Do not consider previously published work. $15 entry fee which includes a one-year subscription. Snail mail only.
First prize $500 and publication for a single poem.
Send to:
Alimentum Poetry Contest
PO Box 210028
Nashville, TN 37221
Deadline: December, 1, 2009
Alimentum publishes fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry all around the subject of food. Alimentum is the only literary journal all about food. Submissions open September 1, 2009 and closes December 1, 2009.
http://www.alimentumjournal.com/submissions.html
Additionally, the journal has a poetry contest:
Submit up to 3 unpublished poems related to the subject of food or drink. Five-poem limit on poetry submissions. Do not consider previously published work. $15 entry fee which includes a one-year subscription. Snail mail only.
First prize $500 and publication for a single poem.
Send to:
Alimentum Poetry Contest
PO Box 210028
Nashville, TN 37221
Deadline: December, 1, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)